We all hate to admit it, but eventually, aches and pains creep in with age and arthritis gets the better of us. As part of my thesis, I did some research on the health benefits of Tart Cherries and Tart Cherry Juice. It turns out to be one of the best sources of plant based melatonin. So, that means, if you have insomnia, you absolutely should be including this in your daily diet and supplement regime. Not only that is it good for insomnia, it has several other wonderful benefits, including: (2 , 3 , 4)
- reduces muscle soreness
- increase strength
- helps reduce symptoms of arthritis, gout and inflammation
- promotes brain health
- boosts immune health
- helps regulate blood pressure
- cancer prevention
- aids weight loss
So, knowing tart cherries are so healthy, I wanted to add them to my diet. I decided to experiment with unflavored grass-fed gelatin and homemade gummies, something Ive been wanting to try for a while. Why grass fed gelatin? Some known benefits of gelatin include: (1, 5)
- immune support
- joint protection
- healthy hair
- reduce inflammation
- helps to balance hormones
- reduce signs of aging
- strengthen teeth
- aids in sleep and insomnia
- improves gut health
- aids digestion
- improves cognitive ability
- improves skin health
- strong bones
So, after looking at the health benefits of these two powerful foods, I knew it was a winning combination. But, I had never even tried making gummies before. Before I created my own recipe, I experimented with a few others. The photo on the left is pureed strawberries, sweetened with maple syrup. The one on the right is turmeric, also sweetened with maple syrup.
Strawberry 
Tart Cherry 
Turmeric 
After making the strawberry, and turmeric gummies, I found they were a bit bland, especially the turmeric one. So, when I created my own version, I opted to double the amount of concentrate, otherwise used if a glass of juice was being prepared. The ratio is typically 2 tablespoons per 8 ounce glass, or 1/4 cup per 2 cups of water. I doubled that ratio for my recipe. The result is a pleasing tart cherry flavor in the gummies.
Here are the ingredients for this simple, but super healthy recipe:
Anti-Inflammatory Tart Cherry Gummies
- Servings: 32 squares
- Difficulty: very easy
Do you have some aches and pains? Is arthritis creeping up on you? This combination of grass-fed gelatin and tart cherry juice will help ease the pain
Ingredients
- 2 cups filtered water
- cup Organic Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate
- cup Honey
- 4 packets organic Stevia powder (optional)
- 4 tbs grass-fed unflavored gelatin powder
Directions
- Mix first 4 ingredients in small pan.
- Heat until steaming.
- Sprinkle gelatin in pan over other ingredients.
- Stir throughly, until gelatin is dissolved and all ingredients are combined.
- Pour into 99 square pan. Cover and chill for a minimum of 4 hours.
- Remove from refrigerator and cut into 32 small squaresENJOY!
Closing thoughts
I hope you give this a try. I have found these gummies are super easy to make. In my experience, once the gelatin sets, the resulting gummies can be a bit bland. My best tip would be to over flavor the initial combination of ingredients, so you almost have something that is too sweet or too strong. So, when the gelatin sets, the result will be a gummies packed with flavor!
Until next timenamaste my friends.
Tamara
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